Its been two years since the county adopted amendments to incorporate the Germanna-Wilderness Area Plan (GWAP) into the comprehensive plan and even longer since the county had a town hall meeting on the Germanna-Wilderness Area Plan.

Approximately 75 people gathered at Locust Grove Middle School last Thursday to hear the countys most recent work on the GWAPthe countys 50-year vision for the eastern end of the county.

Last weeks town hall was the GWAP Steering Committees attempt to update the community on work that has been completed on the plan and to reengage citizens in the process, explained District 2 Supervisor and committee member Jim White.

Now is a time to reengage again because this really is the future for the most of you about your neighborhood, he said. Were calling it the Germanna-Wilderness Area (GWA), but it really is your neighborhood and we want your involvement.

Thursdays town hall specifically asked citizens for feedback on planning and zoning and transportation plans.

Prior to presentations by those working on the plan, citizens were invited to talk with speakers, as well as other committee members, and view maps and documents related to the plan.

Since the plans adoption, the steering committee has worked on adding details to GWAP in accordance with economic development, historical and cultural assets, planning and zoning, utilities and infrastructure and transportation.

Effective planning and zoning will be essential to the county meeting its goals and objectives for the plan, explained Orange County Planning and Zoning Director Josh Frederick.

Goals within the GWAP related to planning and zoning include: establishing flexible zoning techniques; promoting inter-connectivity of roads, sidewalks and paths; promoting planned development and providing adequate utilities.

[Zoning] not only affects what you see on the ground and in your day-to-day lives, but it also has this ability to coordinate different efforts together, Frederick said. Were not only thinking land-use, but were thinking transportation and utilities. Really, its in everybodys best interest that the three are really coordinated together as they are implemented and brought forward.

In order to coordinate the plans goals across the plans 14,600 acres, Frederick said the county is considering new zoning tools, such as overlay districts and new planned zoning districts.

A zoning overlay will cover the entire GWA and would allow the county to coordinate planning efforts, like the transportation master plan, utilities master plan and the Rt. 3 arterial management plan, within the area. The underlying zoning districts permitted uses and other regulations would still apply, while an overlay would provide an extra blanket of provisions.

Three new planned zoning districts specific to the GWA also have been developed since the GWAPs adoption, Frederick said, noting they encourage master planning and flexibility. The Planned Development Mixed-Use zoning district allows for integration of residential and nonresidential land uses to provide unified, pedestrian-oriented site design. Frederick said the goal of that zoning is to allow people to live, work and play in one area. Planned Development Business zoning allows for coordinated, multi-unit, multi-use commercial development and would be aimed at intensive commercial usage, he added. Lastly, the Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) zoning district allows for a compact, efficient and classic residential development pattern with some integrated commercial uses. The zoning district is a new concept for rural communities, but provides a unique-type of development which gives citizens a sense of place, Frederick explained.

Zoning map amendments and the approval of new developments will follow the typical planning process, he said, including public hearings.

But, since the approval is ultimately for a generalized plan of development, the review materials consist of highly-visual plans, renderings and graphics, Frederick added. The public gets more to see as part of the process, which is intended to encourage more engagement and input.

Transportation planning is another asset where the communitys input is invited.

In the past two years, traffic engineers have joined the steering committees efforts to provide the GWA a safe and efficient road network that works in harmony with the development vision, provides for choice of travel modes and enhances the quality of the development.

Bill Wuensch, a transportation engineer with Charlottesvilles EPR, presented transportation strategies he said the county hopes will make it a place people and industries want to locate to in the future.

What goes hand-in-hand with that is a quality transportation system, where we can avoid having a lot of congestion in the future as Rt. 3 traffic builds, he said. A transportation network within the new development area that is efficient and allows people to walk, bike and really enhance the sense of place to have a really quality development, is another goal.

Access management would limit the driveway access to Rt. 3, which is the countys only major arterial roadway in the area and continues to get busier, making for safer and more efficient traveling, Wuensch said.

Another strategy the steering committee plans to incorporate in the GWA is internal connectivity, which he said will create high connectivity of local roads to provide multiple routes between destinations, allowing local trips to be completed on local roads without the need to use arterial highways.

Multimodal street designs are also being proposed. They will accommodate various modes of transportation and allow people to travel safely without having to use a vehicle, he added.

The countys ideas for Rt. 3 are being coordinated with regional efforts to make the arterial highway network more efficient and safe, explained Anthony Donald of the firm Michael Baker International. The firm is working on the Virginia Department of Transportations (VDOT) Route 3 Arterial Management Plan, which is a program looking to ensure the safety and preserve the capacity of the arterial highway, accommodating economic development without wide-scale road widenings.

Donald said the goal of their study is to provide Orange County a long-range plan to ensure a safe and efficient roadway network. The firm has conducted field visits, operational reviews, traffic counts, crash data reviews and analysis of existing conditions as part of its study. Two public meetings will be held to gather community input. A finalized report and recommendations are expected to be presented to the public in December or January.

Water and wastewater were other topics citizens heard about during last weeks update. Representatives from the countys engineering firms Draper Aden and Wiley|Wilson presented projected demand as well as existing needs and infrastructure.

At build-out of the GWAP, water demands are estimated at 7 million gallons a day (MGD), while the Rapidan Service Authority (RSA) has an existing capacity of 1.6 MGD and current water needs are an estimated between 1 and 1.2 MGD. Additional treatment capacity likely will be required by 2025 if the high growth build-out demand is realized, according to Draper Aden.

RSA is permitted 3 MGD from the Rapidan River, however, that is still 4 MGD less than would be required for future demands. The firm will continue to research additional water sources and future needs.

Draper Aden representatives said the information wasnt presented to cause panic, but rather so the county can start thinking about other options.

According to Wiley|Wilson, RSAs Wilderness Shores Wastewater Treatment plant has a capacity of 2 MGD, only half of which is used currently. However, in the next 15-20 years, the plant would require an expansion to meet an anticipated 4 MGD capacity, and in 30-50 years the plant likely would need a capacity of 6 MGD or a new wastewater treatment plant would need to be built.

While future water and wastewater demands were a sobering thought for those in attendance, so too were the projected costs of services associated with the countys vision for the area.

The primary driver of this plan is economic developmentattracting business investment that attracts jobscreating higher tax revenues to pay for the services, Orange County Administrator Bryan David said. One thing this plan does is sets an expectation for this area that the revenues for economic development should parallel the increase in the level of services.

White agreed.

Only about 22 percent of the countys revenue comes from the residential real estate tax, he explained. We have a $100 million budget, so $22 million comes from the taxes we all paid on our homes. The rest largely comes from our economy and thats why economic development and building the economy is so important.

Localities want their citizens to buy locally because it supports their community, he added, which is an underlying theme of the GWAmaking it a self-contained area where people can live, work and play.

The economy needs us to have that commitment to the community, he said. Sometimes we have to shop outside the county. I dont like doing it, but maybe one day we can do less of it. The more the economic wheel can grow and turn, the more it offsets and pays for the services were looking for and holds in check the amount we tax our residents.

District 5 Supervisor Lee Frame, who also serves on the steering committee, said the plan allows for the eastern end of the county to be its economic engine while allowing the rural parts of the county to remain as rural as possible.

Frame also invited people to send the steering committee their comments on the plan through the countys website.

Weve tried to make this process as open as possible because it will impact peoples lives, he said.

Documents discussed by the steering committee, including the GWAP itself, can be found on the county website: http://orangecountyva.gov/.

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Plan progress - The Daily Progress